So! 16th of June came around and thanks to twitter I heard about the Kinect SDK being released! I do not think I had ever geeked so much in my life! Haha! Well I downloaded it and my initial reaction was agh… coding! HOWEVER! Thinking back to some previous coding knowledge I’ve had from university I was able to use a number of sources to help me produce my first program!

I am currently doing a student project on Xbox 360 and there has been some spreadsheet usage in it and I had a look around the internet at programs made. A lot of people had made programs where the camera would render and shapes would appear on the hands. These were fun to try and got me into the coding side of things. Once I had done this. I started going deeper and found the following sources to show me a little bit of C#.

The first thing you will need to have is Visual Studio Express 2010, Windows 7 and Microsoft.NET Framework 4.0. All the instructions for installing the drivers are on the Microsoft Kinect Research website. Check it out by clicking here.

My first source to get me trying the SDK wasChannel 9. This website introduced me to the basics and I was able to create the skeleton moving. Once I continued to browse this website it also showed me how to get the camera working step by step. It was very useful and I would recomment it as a starting point for anyone who is trying it.

Now not all of you will have programming background so here are a few useful sources:

Confused by WPF?Code Project was extremely useful. I could search the website for previous programs and was able to look at what others had done just by signing up and browsing. Part of programming is seeing what others have and developing it.

So you haven’t got any experience of c# programming… neither had I. I was very much comfortable with VB.NET and other’s but this website helped me figure out the basics of the language and I was able to get my head around a few things.

After going over it again and again and again I was able to eventually get something which looks quite interesting and fun. It is still in it’s early stages but if you look at the video above, you will be able to see me moving to Jessie J on the kinect with my program. haha.

Now unfortunately I have been having trouble zipping some of the files and attaching them, however…. if you download the game , you might have some luck, if you already have the SDK. – Please note – the last question is incorrect haha… but it still has some bugs in it.

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About raychambers

I am currently teaching ICT at Uppingham Community College in Uppingham, Rutland. I have a passion for teaching and I enjoy meeting other people and sharing their ideas. I have a keen interest in games development as well as developing the use of ICT in classrooms across the curriculum. In my spare time I teach Irish dancing. I have been Irish dancing since I was 11. My highest position was 14th at the world championships 3 years running and 2nd at the Great Britain Championships in 2006.

Hi Ray,
This looks really impressive! Would you consider developing something for physics simulations and demonstrations? And maybe a program that could work as a motion sensor, or similar?
I am the Institute of Physics Network Coordinator for Gloucestershire and I would love to be able to do something along those lines.
Thanks,
Alessio.

Hi Alessio – Thank you for your kind words. I haven’t done programming in such a long time haha – It was on of my main things are university and unforunately the ICT curriculum does not allow enough of it. It’s been great getting back on the horse so to speak haha. A motion sensor shouldn’t be to difficult… what did you have in mind?

Great blog post Ray. I downloaded the SDK myself the other day but haven’t had much chance to play with it since! I like the tutorials on Channel 9 as they have the Visual Basic version too and that is what I am more familiar with. Would you say it is more worthwhile learning the C# route though?

Hi Nicki – thanks for the comments :) – I only played around with it this weekend and that Channel 9 was a saviour haha – I’m a VB.NET coder myself but C sharpe wasn’t too difficult to get my head around. Most programming maps into other languages, it’s just a case of find code online and manipulating it. For example I researched c sharpe if statements because none of mine were working haha just a case of trying different things. I’m going to trial my program next wednesday to see how it goes down in the class – will video the results :)